Man, they only picked up 13 rwhp... I guess that can be about 30 to the crank though huh. O well idk I want the best of both sound and performence and I get both with the headers.

 

Lts will not make your car louder. Trust me, I've been there twice. The absence of cats is what is really going to make it loud, and the mufflers you choose will also add to/or reduce volume. I promise you though, headers will not make it louder. They will make it sound better though, imo. As far as gains, most Mach owners will tell you to save your money on the headers. Your paying out a ton of money for about 10-15 RWHP. You can't compare your car to what the LSx engines are gaining from headers. They respond much better to LTs and make more power than our cars. My GTO and Z28 both gained 17 and 18 rwhp from LTs/tune. The LS3 is going to gain much more for several reasons (won't go into that right now). I'm not saying LTs are a bad idea for the Mach, but the money can definitely be better spent to improve the car. Those BBK LCAs you posted are nice, and will get you much better traction. I would definitely do those. If you want your car to be loud and get a nice gain, just do an off-road pipe, (ORX is best imo). I got a huge gain in trap speed with an ORX on my previous Mach. That thing trapped 109.9 with the pipe and 4.10s. Just my 2 cents. Let us know what you end up doing man.

 

So then if I do a Bassani Cat/offroad midpipe setup and a cat back say borla, I would see about the same power? It will cost me in worst case cenario $2600 total to do the ARH longtubes. If I do that and then spend the rest on lowering springs and maybe an mgw and JLT CAI and then top it off with wheels and tires in the spring I could see the same results? I am shooting for around 300whp which I hope I could take to a 12.9 or so in the 1/4... Am I crazy or about right? How did they sound better could you describe it at all, I have never heard a mustang with headers in person I dont think. Thanks for all of you guys input, your starting to sway me away from the headers lol.

 

Dynos vary so much, I'd hate to tell you that you will definitely see 300 rwhp. You may see more than that, but then again it may read much lower. Dynos are awesome tools for tuning, but can't be trusted 100% on measuring rwhp.

With the offroad pipe, Bassani, MGW, and Intake, you'll be sitting on a high 12 capable car. If you throw some sticky tires on the back, like Nitto DRs or better, then your Mach will be capable of getting closer to mid 12s. Traction is key on Machs. If you can get them to hook, they will impress in the 1/4 mile.

About the LTs sounding better.... they give the car a deeper, more tuned sound. It sounds much smoother.

 

You ain't lyin', man. I just picked up a set of SLP LTs and catted X very cheap but man all this talk is swaying me too. I'd like to know how the heck the dudes in the magazine gained a measly 13 hp from LTs, catted X, SLP intake, upgraded coils and plugs, and a dyno tune... on the same dyno both times. Somewhere around $1700 for 13 hp doesn't add up. Heck with it, we'll be able to say we have LTs I guess! You may as well do it if you've been that passionate about it, or you'll regret not doing it I'm sure.

 

K&N shows 11.60 horsepower from their FIPK air intake alone. Granted this is from their testing, but I doubt they'd want to lie about it and risk angry customers. How can headers and a tune only be good for 17 horsepower?

 

Trust me, they are lying, bad. Besides, Machs already have a huge CAI, its so big it comes through the top of the hood, lol!

The reason LTs don't do much is because the car isn't making enough power to be overly restricted by the stock manifolds. The stock manifolds are somewhat restrictive, but not enough for LTs to make big gains. Thats why if you throw a blower on your Mach and jump 100 rwhp, LTs suddenly add +20 RWHP.

 

Look at it this way, the Ford engineers did an outstanding job with the Mach 1 stock exhaust system. You have to remember it's running basically the same factory exhaust, from the same factory heads, as the 03/04 Terminator Cobras! Long tubes don't add very much to that equation, because it's almost perfect from the get go. Most Mach owners found out early on that working on a good midpipe made more sense than spending the money on headers. Once you go forced induction, then headers become a necessary part of a good high performance exhaust setup.

 

I appreciate all your advice guys, I think I am just going to do the headers and get it out of the way. If I don't do them I will regret it and never have enough money to do them again. I eventually, probably when I am done with school and have a better job, want to throw on a KB unit so it will be a smart move doing it now I hope. $2500 though!!! Damn. Good thing I will be getting 40+ hours a week during the winter season! All I want is for my car to sound like it should and these headers will do a great job.

 

Its what makes you happy that counts, man. At least you'll have some grade A parts on there. We had to at least make an effort to talk you out of it, lol! Make sure you post up a sound clip/vid of it once its done!